Web-based content management applications such as MICROSOFT® SharePoint typically include files that are located on a Web server along with data that is stored in a database. For example, one or more Web pages that are used to access the data in the database are stored on a Web server. In order to make the content accessible to end users, an attachment process is typically utilized to set up the live instance of the content management application. In other words, a site administrator makes the Web pages and database “live” to end users so that the data can be accessed and updated.
One of the current issues that arise with content management applications has to do with properly backing up the data contained therein. Due to the fact that content management applications have data stored in more places than just a physical database, a separate information technology organization or team is typically responsible for maintaining and backing up content management applications than is responsible for backing up other databases in the company. This division of responsibility can often pose a problem in corporations since the database backups become disconnected from the maintenance operations being performed by the team responsible for content management applications.
When backups are performed for content management applications, the entire database is typically backed up, along with the directories on the file server that contains the other data for the application. Because entire databases are being backed up, it can be very difficult to go back to a past database backup and extract a specific unit of logical data as it once existed on a company's content management application (such as SharePoint or as similar technology). Users are not able to extract specific data from a database that is not attached to a “live” instance of the content management application. Also, it is not generally possible to know which database backup contains the logical data that a user may be looking for due to multiple backups, security/access issues, and the standard user interface may not contain one centralized location for exploring content to be recovered and navigating to the location that needs to be backed up or exported. It is typically a time-intensive process for an administrator to drill down to find the content. The administrator often has to access every site to find the URL and then run code to extract the information. In accessing every site, the confidentiality and privacy of site content can be compromised.